Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

Public Health Experts Dismayed At Trump’s ‘Reckless’ Decision To Pull Out Of Paris Accord

A warmer planet will bring more air pollution, fuel the spread of infectious diseases and increase the incidence of certain cancers, among many other things, they warn. “Climate change is perhaps the most important public health issue of our time," said Mary Pittman, the president and CEO of the Public Health Institute.

Los Angeles Times:
Health Experts Are Furious With Trump For Pulling Out Of The Paris Climate Agreement
Environmentalists aren’t the only ones outraged over President Trump’s decision to have the U.S. walk away from the Paris accord on global warming. Health experts are pretty dismayed as well. The climate agreement, reached in Paris in 2015 after years of negotiation, aims to keep Earth’s temperature within 2 degrees Celsius (or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of pre-industrial levels. Meeting that goal would have required the U.S. to cut its emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gasses — moves that Trump said would wipe out the jobs of millions of Americans. (Many economists disagree.) (Kaplan, 6/1)

In other administration news, The New York Times offers a closer look at the president's decision to roll back contraception guidelines under the Affordable Care Act —

The New York Times:
Trump Rule Could Deny Birth Control Coverage To Hundreds Of Thousands Of Women
The Trump administration has drafted a sweeping revision of the government’s contraception coverage mandate that could deny birth control benefits to hundreds of thousands of women who now receive them at no cost under the Affordable Care Act. The new rule, which could go into effect as soon as it is published in the Federal Register, greatly expands the number of employers and insurers that could qualify for exemptions from the mandate by claiming a moral or religious objection, including for-profit, publicly traded corporations. (Pear, 6/1)

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